"Forces of Nature", set for release on March 27th, the final DLC for the Season Pass

As the DLC name suggests, each map is elemental themed, meaning it will have rain, snow, fog, etc. effects on it.

Each map has a special elemental cleaver, meaning if you find it, an enemy will be set on fire, electrocuted, etc. (so far, this seems to be strictly horde related). There will be an achievement associated with finding these special elemental cleavers and using them.

Maps (2 Remakes, 3 New - 5 Total):

AFTERMATH – Aftermath is a government park after a tsunami. There is seaweed and wreckage everywhere, and the main play space sits under a huge cargo ship which was deposited on top of a building during the storm. The area floods and quakes during gameplay, as the whole thing is teetering on the edge of falling into the water below. This has gameplay implications as it is difficult to aim during the quakes, and difficult to be stealthy while splashing through the water.

ARTILLERY – Artillery starts out looking like an ordinary military base, but during gameplay a storm kicks up. Lightning begins to flash on the horizon and eventually a tornado develops and sweeps near the play space. Dust and debris are kicked up making it difficult to see, and the buffeting winds can mask your approach.

COVE – Cove is a small port that the Stranded have taken over and turned into a little village. The map is very open with long lines of sight, but there is a really, really heavy layer of fog that masks just about everything. There’s a really nice sniper nest inside a central ship, but the sniper’s form is silhouetted by the low angle light shining through the fog.

JACINTO – Jacinto was a beautiful city, but huge stalks have popped up through the buildings and flooded the entire area with imulsion. Half of the map is dead and crumbling, with imulsion fumes hanging in the air. To make matters worse, the drizzle that is present when a match begins quickly develops into a heavy rain storm that impedes visibility and lines of sight as water starts sheeting off the buildings.

RAVEN DOWN – Raven Down is a very small crossroads that is blanketed in a blinding snow storm. A Raven helicopter has crashed in the storm, and crashed through an elevated train on its way down, so there’s train wreckage to deal with as well. The snowstorm ebbs occasionally, but is more often so heavy that it’s difficult to see more than a few meters ahead at any given time. (Rod Fergusson mentioned how Cliffy hated this map; how it was the smallest one they had, but brought it back for the utter chaos with the shotguns that will ensue. And it makes it very challenging to play Beast/Horde on with how inclosed the area is)

Savage Grenadier Elite Limited Edition (looks even more badass with that tint of red on his clothes <3)

Savage Hunter - which ironically they showed a picture of the Savage Marauder that we already have; lmao. This is the one we should be getting:

Spoiler:

Highlight this box with your cursor to read the spoiler text.

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Weapon Skins:None were mentioned by name, but we're getting 5 new weapon skins for immediate use, and 2 additional weapon skins (that were designed based on community feedback) that can only be unlocked through gameplay in the "Forces of Nature" DLC.

Rod specifically said this is the final Map Pack for the Season Pass, which we can only assume at this point means all of the DLC. I'm pretty bummed out we never got Fuel Depot, Mansion (which should have been in instead of Escalation), River and more of the Gears 2 maps. I really hope down the line that they come out with some sort of Map pack and more character skin DLC for us to buy individually, which I totally would. Who cares if the achievement list is capped at 2000 and this marks the end of achievements, I just want more maps dammit!

Gears 3 Twitter confirms an interview Rod Fergusson gave to digitalspy that Guardian was returning:

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We’re happy to announce that fan favorite Guardian mode will be making a return with #Gears3 Forces of Nature DLC.

Nice. Wonder if they're taking out that boring ass CTL completely or just having the two separate playlists. I'm assuming separate, since CTL has all those Onyx medals to deal with.

Also, from that article, they talk about future DLC now that Epic has completed their obligations to release four separate DLC packs for the Season Pass owners:

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This is the last DLC in the Season Pass. Does that mean this is the last Gears of War 3 DLC, or have you got more planned?"It's kind of a 'never say never' perspective. We've completed the obligation for those with the season pass, so it's really now all about community demand and those sorts of things and what people want. But I mean, it takes a lot of effort to create DLC, and in terms of internal resources and what we're focused on, that kind of stuff. It's really driven by player demand. If players are dying for it and they want it, then it's something that we can definitely look at."

Time to hit up Twitter and spam the Epic forums for the maps I want to return.

Yeah, what the *bleep* did you want/expect, another campaign act that everyone would only play through once?

Maps are what people wanted. Lots and lots of maps. Hoping for a Season Pass Two, because there are so many more Gears 1/2 maps I think should return. Some that shouldn't. As long as they continue to support the game, I'll continue to support them and buy the content. Except weapon skins. Eff that. They all look the same for that matter anyways.

Delighted to see Guardian and Jacinto come back, Raven Down is terrible on Gears 1 and it'll be even worse on this game with the Retro lol. Don't want any more Gears 1 maps for future DLC, however would like to see Security, River, Day One, Pavilion and Avalanche.